FBI offers $200K reward for fugitive former Air Force counterintelligence agent

The FBI is offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and prosecution of a former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence agent accused of providing national defense information to Iran.

Monica Elfriede Witt was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in February 2019 on charges of espionage, including transmitting national defense information to the government of Iran, according to a statement released Thursday by the FBI Washington, D.C., Field Office.

Witt, a former tech sergeant who was a special agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, served in the military between 1997 and 2008. Her military service and contracting employment provided her access to information relating to foreign intelligence and counterintelligence classified as Secret and Top Secret, including the true names of U.S. intelligence covert operatives, the FBI said.

“Monica Witt allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime national defense information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities,” said Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division.

Witt initially served as an airborne cryptologic language analyst, a specialist responsible for translating intelligence communication often intercepted via airborne assets. She later reclassified as a special agent.

In her first specialty, Witt served aboard an RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft out of Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, focusing on Persian (Farsi) language communications, according to a resume on the website Indeed that was attributed to Witt and matched much of the information in her service records.

She moved into special investigations in 2003, focusing on criminal, fraud and counterintelligence investigations, according to the resume.

She left the Air Force in 2008 as a special agent assigned to the 2nd Field Investigations Squadron at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland just outside of Washington, D.C., according to military records.

After leaving the Air Force, she worked as an intelligence analyst with major defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton in 2008 supporting the Army as an Iranian subject matter expert. Witt later moved to Chenega Systems, another Virginia-based contracting agency, as a Middle East desk officer, providing guidance to the Air Force.

According to federal investigators, Witt left the U.S. and defected to Iran in 2013. Prosecutors claim she subsequently shared classified information with Iranian officials, placing sensitive national defense programs at risk.

Anyone who has information about Witt should contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI; contact a local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate; or submit a tip via tips.fbi.gov.